No abstract available.
Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant* ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation*

Less than one third of patients who suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD) report remission following antidepressant treatments requiring more diverse treatment approaches. Augmentation of second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) has been increasingly recognized as an important treatment option. The authors have previously provided a comprehensive review of SGAs for the treatment of MDD in 2013. Since then, numerous additional clinical trials have been conducted to investigate diverse issues regarding the utility of SGAs in MDD. Moreover, a new SGA, brexpiprazole, was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July 2015 for the treatment of MDD as an augmentation agent to antidepressants. Thus, the aim of this study was to provide a concise update of all the available SGAs for the treatment of MDD, in particular on the additional clinical trials which have been published since 2013.
Antidepressive Agents ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Humans ; United States Food and Drug Administration

Baclofen is a gamma-aminobutyric acid type B receptor agonist used as an anti-craving agent for treatment of alcohol dependence. It has gained popularity in the recent times because it is well tolerated even in patients with hepatic impairments. Herein we are summarizing the latest literature about baclofen induced hypomania and are reporting a case of baclofen abuse because of its mood elevating property in a patient of alcohol dependence with comorbid major depressive disorder. Literature review and case study of a 36-year-old male with alcohol dependence with comorbid major depressive disorder was prescribed with tablet baclofen as an anti-craving agent along with antidepressant medicines. The patients who did not improve with conventional antidepressant therapy started feeling better in terms of his mood symptoms on taking tablet baclofen. Owing to the mood elevating property he started abusing baclofen. Despite its safety profile in hepatic impairment, one must be very cautious in prescribing baclofen because of its mood altering property which may account for its abuse potentiality.
Adult ; Alcoholism* ; Baclofen* ; Depressive Disorder, Major* ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid ; Humans ; Male

Major depressive disorder is often resistant to antidepressant treatment. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Known adverse events of rTMS include transient headache, local pain, syncope, seizure induction, and hypomania induction. This report outlines a patient with TRD who unexpectedly improved following a seizure during the course of rTMS, which has never been reported.
Depression* ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Headache ; Humans ; Seizures* ; Syncope ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation*

Numerous hypotheses have been put forth over the years to explain the development of bipolar disorder. Of these, circadian rhythm hypotheses have gained much importance of late. While the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivation hypothesis and the monoamine hypothesis somewhat explain the pathogenic mechanism of depression, they do not provide an explanation for the development of mania/hypomania. Interestingly, all patients with bipolar disorder display significant disruption of circadian rhythms and sleep/wake cycles throughout their mood cycles. Indeed, mice carrying the Clock gene mutation exhibit an overall behavioral profile that is similar to human mania, including hyperactivity, decreased sleep, lowered depression-like behavior, and lower anxiety. It was recently reported that monoamine signaling is in fact regulated by the circadian system. Thus, circadian rhythm instability, imposed on the dysregulation of HPA axis and monoamine system, may in turn increase individual susceptibility for switching from depression to mania/hypomania. In addition to addressing the pathophysiologic mechanism underlying the manic switch, circadian rhythm hypotheses can explain other bipolar disorder-related phenomena such as treatment resistant depression and mixed features.
Animals ; Bipolar Disorder* ; Chronobiology Disorders ; Circadian Rhythm* ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Humans ; Mice

Depressive disorder is one of the very serious mental diseases in terms of personal, social, economical losses. It is not clear for the pathogenesis of the depression, however, even though decreased 5-HT and NE may be the biological causing factors in the neuronal synapses. Moreover, there are many depressive patients who are treatment resistant or partial responders. Thus, we have been needed the other therapeutic methods for those cases. Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) & VNS are the newly introduced methods for the treatment of refractory or partial responders with depression, which nature of therapeutic effect is the stimulation of the CNS. VNS has been used to treat the refractory epilepsy patients. Despite of numerous empirical and preclinical data, although VNS may be effective for the treatment of depression, the parameters for the treatment of depression using the VNS device have not been confirmed yet. However, from the several reports clinical effectiveness were described about 40%, thus, it is interested that VNS will be able to use for the treatment of depression in a future.
Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Neurons ; Serotonin ; Synapses ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; Vagus Nerve Stimulation* ; Vagus Nerve*

Antidepressants are widely used to treat depression in Korea, however, only a few studies have focused on the provider of the treatment. The aim of the study is to compare the differences between patients who were prescribed antidepressants by psychiatrists and those who were prescribed antidepressants by non-psychiatrists in South Korea. Patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder who had been newly prescribed antidepressants in 2012 were selected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. They were classified into two groups depending on whether they received the antidepressant prescription from a psychiatrist or non-psychiatrist. Sociodemographic, clinical, and depression related cost has been investigated. Treatment resistant depression, which is defined as a failure of two antidepressant regimens to alleviate symptoms, was also investigated. Prescription adequacy was assessed based on whether a regimen was maintained for at least 4 weeks. Among the 834694 patients with pharmaceutically treated depression (PTD) examined in this study, 326122 (39.1%) were treated by psychiatrists. Patients who were treated by psychiatrists were younger and had more psychiatric comorbidities than those treated by non-psychiatrists. They had longer PTD duration (229.3 days vs. 103.0 days, p < 0.05) and a larger proportion of treatment resistant depression (9.3% of PTD) when compared to those patients treated by non-psychiatrists. The patients treated by psychiatrists had a smaller proportion of inadequate antidepressant use compared to those patients in the non-psychiatrist group (44.5% vs. 65.1%, p < 0.05). The costs related to depression corrected with PTD duration were higher in the nonpsychiatrist group (32214 won vs. 56001 won, p < 0.05). Patients who receive antidepressants from psychiatrists are patients with more severe, treatment-resistant depression. Psychiatrists prescribe antidepressants more adequately and cost-effectively than non-psychiatrists.
Antidepressive Agents ; Comorbidity ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Diagnosis ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Korea ; Prescriptions ; Psychiatry

Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a major public health problem. It is estimated that about 30% of patients with major depressive disorder do not show substantial clinical improvement to somatic or psychosocial treatment. Most of studies for TRD have focused on the subjects already known as TRD. Patients with unipolar depressive episodes that do not respond satisfactorily to numerous sequential treatment regimens were included in the TRD studies. Such post hoc experimental design can be regarded only as consequences of having TRD, rather than as causal risk factors for it. Although informative, data derived from such studies often do not allow a distinction to be made between cause and effect. So, we should shift paradigm toward examining the risk for developing TRD in untreated depressed patients. To deal with this problem, untreated depressed patients should be enrolled in the study to identify biological markers for treatment resistance. The peripheral or central biological markers should be explored before starting treatment. Subsequent systematic administration of treatments with appropriate monitoring in the subjects can determine the risk for developing treatment resistance in untreated individuals. Such information could give a cue to improve the initial diagnosis and provide more effective treatment for TRD.
Biomarkers ; Cues ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Neuroimaging ; Public Health ; Research Design ; Risk Factors

Whenever a clinician manages the patients with depression, he may meet various prolems that make it difficult to treat them. Even though he has good skills and knowledge abut depression, some barriers will be appear during his practice. In general, the difficulties in treating depression are treatment-resistance, adverse effects of antidepressants, pregnancy in female patients, comorbid medical conditions, poor compliance, drug-drug interactions, and so on, which are related with pharmacological treatments. Here, only the two of them, the treatment-resistant depression and difficult problems concerned with pregnancy, were discussed. Some level of treatment resistance is the norm rather tnan the exception. As the treatment failure stems from inadequate treatment, it is important that the clinician should prescribe medications with sufficient doseage and adequate duration. And to overcome the treatment resistant depression the polypharmacy is necessary, in that case, the side effects and toxicities should be explored and managed immediately. So the clinician have to learn more about the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic mechanisms of each drugs used in treatment of depression. When the risk of the fetus by the exposure is higher than the risk of untreated maternal psychiatric disorder, psychotropic medications should be used durig pregnancy. Women who are maintained on psychotropics and become pregnant, as well as women with the new onset of psychiatric symptoms durig pregnancy, should be carefully reassessed. However, data concerning the potential risk of long-term behavioral changes folowing prenatal exposure to psychotropics is rare, so further longitudinal follow-up studies are needed.
Antidepressive Agents ; Compliance ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Polypharmacy ; Pregnancy ; Treatment Failure

Treatment resistant depression (TRD) is a global health concern affecting a large proportion of depressed patients who then require novel therapeutic options. One such treatment option that has received some attention in the past several years is vagal nerve stimulation (VNS). The present review briefly describes the relevance of this treatment in the light of other existing pharmacological and non-pharmacological options. It then summarizes clinical findings with respect to the efficacy of VNS. The anatomical rationale for its efficacy and other potential mechanisms of its antidepressant effects as compared to those employed by classical antidepressant drugs are discussed. VNS has been approved in some countries and has been used for patients with TRD for quite some time. A newer, fast-acting, non-invasive pharmacological option called ketamine is currently in the limelight with reference to TRD. This drug is currently in the investigational phase but shows promise. The clinical and preclinical findings related to ketamine have also been summarized and compared with those for VNS. The role of neurotrophin factors, specifically brain derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor, in the beneficial effects of both VNS and ketamine have been highlighted. It can be concluded that both these therapeutic modalities, while effective, need further research that can reveal specific targets for intervention by novel drugs and address concerns related to side-effects, especially those seen with ketamine.
Antidepressive Agents ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant* ; Humans ; Ketamine* ; Vagus Nerve Stimulation*